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Aaron Bruski

The Daily Dose

Daily Dose: Smoke and Mirrors

As you are all aware, the end of the year is bearing down on owners and the plot is thickening up and down the NBA. You know the drill: Shutdowns, playoff seeding, tanking, injuries, and more. Let’s get down to business.

A quick word on Amare Stoudemire (back) – I’m not holding my breath. I have not seen a single report that has left much of a chance for him to return during the regular season, and his locker was cleared out on Monday night before he went to Miami. Frankly, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was more at play than just his back, though any issue would be in addition to the injury. Carmelo Anthony (groin) said he would play tonight “for sure” on a New York radio show, while Jeremy Lin (knee) is still questionable. The question of the day is which Knicks wing is going to separate from the rest, and can Melo embrace the challenge of being ‘the man’ and perform like he has in years’ past. I just don’t know if he’s the same guy, and if nearly two years of PR hits have made him tentative. We’ll see.

THE MEEK SHALL INHERIT

Andre Iguodala was a big miss of mine this year, as I thought his right knee would be a problem and sap his explosiveness. He’s dealing with left knee (patellar) tendonitis right now, and aside from the normal concerns for any injury the fact that it’s not his right knee is huge. In a truncated season with the type of struggles he had last year, it’s nothing short of amazing that his knee has held up. He’s officially questionable for Friday’s game, which is a bit of a bad sign so early in the week. I’ve backed off on dropping Evan Turner, who posted 12 points on 6-of-13 shooting with seven rebounds, two assists, two steals, and two blocks in 31 minutes last night with Iggy out. I figure I can wait until Friday to see where it all heads, but with the proverbial reservation of my right to move on a hot free agent.

The biggest splash last night was made by Jodie Meeks, though, who scored 31 points with seven 3-pointers. I’m only looking at an add in formats in which I need threes after a year of inconsistency. Along with Turner, the real beneficiary for missed time by Iguodala is Jrue Holiday, who scored 19 points with six assists last night. Spencer Hawes continued to post good numbers for owners taking the plunge, scoring 10 points with eight rebounds and five assists in 25 minutes. He is averaging 8.8 points, 8.2 boards, 3.4 assists, 0.6 steals, 1.2 blocks, and 43.5 percent shooting from the field and is well worth a look down the stretch, despite his re-injury risk.

GEE WHIZ

Daniel Gibson (foot) is out for the year and Alonzo Gee (13 points, three treys, nine rebounds, three assists, one steal) should be owned in most, if not all formats. Antawn Jamison suffered a leg contusion and hand injury last night, but stayed in the game and finished with 13 points and seven boards. Just keep an eye on him as it’s late in the year and the Cavs will soon have little to play for. Tristan Thompson continued to underwhelm with just nine points, six boards, and no blocks last night, but owners would have to be pretty desperate to consider a drop. T.T. is locked into minutes for the rest of the year.

HOT ATLANTA NIGHTS

Josh Smith scored 30 points with 18 rebounds, five assists, two steals, and a block, and has managed to turn around a career’s worth of negative publicity. It’s not just the numbers, it’s the overall package. I venture to say the light bulb turned on. Joe Johnson took a shot to the mouth and needed stitches, and he wasn’t quite himself when he returned to action. He finished with 11 points and eight assists and it would be a surprise if there was any carryover to the next game here.

Marvin Williams is a shaky deep league option right now and had 11 points with six boards and two treys last night. I’m not buying Ivan Johnson’s 17 points, and I’m watching Jeff Teague closely after last night’s seven turnovers. Teague put up 15 points and seven assists, but after two brutal sequences to start the fourth quarter and seven turnovers on the game I’m wondering about his brittle confidence. If he ever got his mental game together he could be a top-tier PG, but it’s fair to wonder if that will happen. His physical skills are in the dominant-to-elite range.

BUCK SHOTS

I’ve watched Monta Ellis up close for a long time, and Bucks fans are in for a treat as there are few players with his scoring ability in the league. Last night he put up 33 points on 15-of-24 shooting with four rebounds, eight assists, and a steal, while Brandon Jennings still scored 18 points on 6-of-13 shooting with six assists, three steals, and two 3-pointers. They’re going to trade off big nights and it remains to be seen if they can steadily improve as they get acclimated to one another. Carlos Delfino’s groin injury doesn’t sound like a walk in the park, which might be a blessing in disguise for owners dealing with his inconsistency. The injury that’s not a blessing was Ersan Ilyasova’s back injury that caused him to miss last night’s game. Maybe that’s the reason for his recent inconsistency, but I’m not going to rule out dissension between him and Scott Skiles, either. After all, Ilyasova wanted to play in Europe this year and after going bonkers for a few weeks his minutes have been yanked around. Put it this way, if it’s not his back, we know what it is.

Ekpe Udoh and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute both started in their place, and will be worth short-term looks for owners that can follow the day-to-day news closely. Udoh put up eight points, 10 boards, two steals, and three blocks, and Mbah a Moute scored 12 points on 6-of-7 shooting with five rebounds, two assists, and two steals. The longer-term bet here, particularly because Delfino’s injury appears to be worse than Ilyasova’s on the outset, is Mike Dunleavy. He scored 13 points with four rebounds, three treys, and a steal, in what was a quiet game by his recent standards.

LEFT HUNGRY BY A WOLF

Outside of Kevin Love’s NBA-leading 65th double-double of 28 points, 11 rebounds, four treys, and a very nice four blocks, there wasn’t much going for the Wolves in fantasy leagues. Luke Ridnour (groin, back) is fairly gimpy right now, but he’s still going to produce as long as he’s playing. He scored nine points with four rebounds and five assists. I have a bit of a conspiracy theory here, and that’s that J.J. Barea (thigh) is being held out because Rick Adelman doesn’t want to be without both guards at once, and that both were banged up enough to where that could be a realistic calamity. If that’s true, when Barea returns look for a shift of duties toward him and away from Ridnour, with a day off for Ridnour a possibility, too.

Martell Webster scored nine points with 10 boards and two steals, but he’s an empty-calorie guy at times. Derrick Williams played 41 minutes and scored 14 points with seven rebounds and not much else, and things aren’t getting any easier whenever Nikola Pekovic (ankles) returns. Wayne Ellington (15 points, two threes) is a deep league guy right now, but really should only be green-lighted if the Wolves remain banged up. Anthony Tolliver hit the waiver wire with a thud after some pretty compelling performances this week, playing just 13 minutes in a forgettable night.

GRIZZLY ADAMS DID HAVE A BEARD

If you’re in an 8- or 9-cat league that rewards games played, then Tony Allen should not be floating around your league’s waiver wire with the Grizzlies staring at two five-game weeks. Allen scored 13 points with five rebounds, two assists, and two steals last night, which is a pretty good baseline expectation for him right now.

Marc Gasol (ankle) was potentially going to miss five games in an early report yesterday, but that was reduced to a questionable listing for the Grizzlies’ next game on Friday. Marreese Speights started for Gasol last night and scored 18 points with seven rebounds, one steal, and two blocks, and is a guy owners will want to keep a close eye on due to the schedule and the slow assimilation of Zach Randolph. Randolph (eight points, five boards, three turnovers) played 22.5 minutes last night and is on the slow-track to getting his wind back. Mike Conley (12 points, five boards, eight assists) sprained his ankle but stayed in the game, and with two full days off in advance of Friday’s game he has a pretty good chance of playing. Dante Cunningham had career-highs of 13 points and 14 rebounds last night, but let’s worry about Speights having value in standard leagues before we go down the ladder to Dante.

DRAGIC’S MAGIC

Goran Dragic gutted out his ankle injury and scored 17 points with four steals and seven assists in 38 minutes. I made a statement on Twitter about Isaiah Thomas being a top-15 PG already, and one of the guys I snuck in ahead of him was Dragic. I snagged Dragic in my big money league and I’m feeling as free as a barn swallow, as Kyle Lowry is not walking through that door (in my opinion). Samuel Dalembert is somebody that I’m not feeling so fresh about, and as I explained somewhere around here, he’s just in a hard spot playing under Kevin McHale. Dally can’t BS one of the better centers of all-time, and for a guy known for his charity work – his work ethic and locker room reputation are awful. It’s clear now that Marcus Camby’s arrival was as much about Dalembert as it was anything else. Dally finished with zero points, seven boards, one steal, and one block in 17 minutes last night, and Camby (four points, four rebounds, zero blocks) wasn’t much better in his 18 minutes. I think Dalembert will improve, but he should only be rostered by teams with real struggles at center. Even then, he should be benched.

Patrick Patterson predictably returned to Earth, as he wasn’t playing a Kings team suffering from too many things to list here. He scored just two points following his 24-point Monday night, highlighting why he’s a deep league option at best right now. Luis Scola continued his recent surge with 22 points, eight boards, and four assists, as did Chandler Parsons, who scored 15 points with nine boards, two threes, and three steals. Both should be in most starting lineups. Courtney Lee continued his poor man’s Kevin Martin act, which coincidentally was a poor man’s version of itself all year long. Back to Lee, he scored 10 points on 4-of-13 shooting with two threes, which should be the baseline expectation going forward and everything else icing on the cake.

ESCHEWS ME

Roddy Beaubois put up another usable line of 14 points, three rebounds, five assists, one steal, and one 3-pointer in 27 minutes off the bench. His value has been a bit spotty recently due to some poor shooting (38.8 percent over the last five games), but if he gets that right, his averages of 10.0 points, 2.8 boards, 4.8 assists, 1.2 steals, and 0.8 threes could be a nice boost during the fantasy playoffs. Vince Carter (seven points, 19 minutes) and Jason Kidd (six points, two assists, two threes, 24 minutes) aren’t exactly burning up the charts, and Delonte West (finger) still isn’t cleared for on-court activities.

Lamar Odom made some noise last night, scoring nine points on 4-of-5 shooting with four rebounds, three assists, one steal, and one block. He was told by Rick Carlisle to eschew the offense and this was the first game in a long time in which observers were impressed by his play. There’s not enough for an add in 12-team formats, but if there was ever a player that could change his fortunes by a light bulb turning on it would be Odom.

As you are all aware, the end of the year is bearing down on owners and the plot is thickening up and down the NBA. You know the drill: Shutdowns, playoff seeding, tanking, injuries, and more. Let’s get down to business.

A quick word on Amare Stoudemire (back) – I’m not holding my breath. I have not seen a single report that has left much of a chance for him to return during the regular season, and his locker was cleared out on Monday night before he went to Miami. Frankly, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was more at play than just his back, though any issue would be in addition to the injury. Carmelo Anthony (groin) said he would play tonight “for sure” on a New York radio show, while Jeremy Lin (knee) is still questionable. The question of the day is which Knicks wing is going to separate from the rest, and can Melo embrace the challenge of being ‘the man’ and perform like he has in years’ past. I just don’t know if he’s the same guy, and if nearly two years of PR hits have made him tentative. We’ll see.

THE MEEK SHALL INHERIT

Andre Iguodala was a big miss of mine this year, as I thought his right knee would be a problem and sap his explosiveness. He’s dealing with left knee (patellar) tendonitis right now, and aside from the normal concerns for any injury the fact that it’s not his right knee is huge. In a truncated season with the type of struggles he had last year, it’s nothing short of amazing that his knee has held up. He’s officially questionable for Friday’s game, which is a bit of a bad sign so early in the week. I’ve backed off on dropping Evan Turner, who posted 12 points on 6-of-13 shooting with seven rebounds, two assists, two steals, and two blocks in 31 minutes last night with Iggy out. I figure I can wait until Friday to see where it all heads, but with the proverbial reservation of my right to move on a hot free agent.

The biggest splash last night was made by Jodie Meeks, though, who scored 31 points with seven 3-pointers. I’m only looking at an add in formats in which I need threes after a year of inconsistency. Along with Turner, the real beneficiary for missed time by Iguodala is Jrue Holiday, who scored 19 points with six assists last night. Spencer Hawes continued to post good numbers for owners taking the plunge, scoring 10 points with eight rebounds and five assists in 25 minutes. He is averaging 8.8 points, 8.2 boards, 3.4 assists, 0.6 steals, 1.2 blocks, and 43.5 percent shooting from the field and is well worth a look down the stretch, despite his re-injury risk.

GEE WHIZ

Daniel Gibson (foot) is out for the year and Alonzo Gee (13 points, three treys, nine rebounds, three assists, one steal) should be owned in most, if not all formats. Antawn Jamison suffered a leg contusion and hand injury last night, but stayed in the game and finished with 13 points and seven boards. Just keep an eye on him as it’s late in the year and the Cavs will soon have little to play for. Tristan Thompson continued to underwhelm with just nine points, six boards, and no blocks last night, but owners would have to be pretty desperate to consider a drop. T.T. is locked into minutes for the rest of the year.

HOT ATLANTA NIGHTS

Josh Smith scored 30 points with 18 rebounds, five assists, two steals, and a block, and has managed to turn around a career’s worth of negative publicity. It’s not just the numbers, it’s the overall package. I venture to say the light bulb turned on. Joe Johnson took a shot to the mouth and needed stitches, and he wasn’t quite himself when he returned to action. He finished with 11 points and eight assists and it would be a surprise if there was any carryover to the next game here.

Marvin Williams is a shaky deep league option right now and had 11 points with six boards and two treys last night. I’m not buying Ivan Johnson’s 17 points, and I’m watching Jeff Teague closely after last night’s seven turnovers. Teague put up 15 points and seven assists, but after two brutal sequences to start the fourth quarter and seven turnovers on the game I’m wondering about his brittle confidence. If he ever got his mental game together he could be a top-tier PG, but it’s fair to wonder if that will happen. His physical skills are in the dominant-to-elite range.

BUCK SHOTS

I’ve watched Monta Ellis up close for a long time, and Bucks fans are in for a treat as there are few players with his scoring ability in the league. Last night he put up 33 points on 15-of-24 shooting with four rebounds, eight assists, and a steal, while Brandon Jennings still scored 18 points on 6-of-13 shooting with six assists, three steals, and two 3-pointers. They’re going to trade off big nights and it remains to be seen if they can steadily improve as they get acclimated to one another. Carlos Delfino’s groin injury doesn’t sound like a walk in the park, which might be a blessing in disguise for owners dealing with his inconsistency. The injury that’s not a blessing was Ersan Ilyasova’s back injury that caused him to miss last night’s game. Maybe that’s the reason for his recent inconsistency, but I’m not going to rule out dissension between him and Scott Skiles, either. After all, Ilyasova wanted to play in Europe this year and after going bonkers for a few weeks his minutes have been yanked around. Put it this way, if it’s not his back, we know what it is.

Ekpe Udoh and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute both started in their place, and will be worth short-term looks for owners that can follow the day-to-day news closely. Udoh put up eight points, 10 boards, two steals, and three blocks, and Mbah a Moute scored 12 points on 6-of-7 shooting with five rebounds, two assists, and two steals. The longer-term bet here, particularly because Delfino’s injury appears to be worse than Ilyasova’s on the outset, is Mike Dunleavy. He scored 13 points with four rebounds, three treys, and a steal, in what was a quiet game by his recent standards.

LEFT HUNGRY BY A WOLF

Outside of Kevin Love’s NBA-leading 65th double-double of 28 points, 11 rebounds, four treys, and a very nice four blocks, there wasn’t much going for the Wolves in fantasy leagues. Luke Ridnour (groin, back) is fairly gimpy right now, but he’s still going to produce as long as he’s playing. He scored nine points with four rebounds and five assists. I have a bit of a conspiracy theory here, and that’s that J.J. Barea (thigh) is being held out because Rick Adelman doesn’t want to be without both guards at once, and that both were banged up enough to where that could be a realistic calamity. If that’s true, when Barea returns look for a shift of duties toward him and away from Ridnour, with a day off for Ridnour a possibility, too.

Martell Webster scored nine points with 10 boards and two steals, but he’s an empty-calorie guy at times. Derrick Williams played 41 minutes and scored 14 points with seven rebounds and not much else, and things aren’t getting any easier whenever Nikola Pekovic (ankles) returns. Wayne Ellington (15 points, two threes) is a deep league guy right now, but really should only be green-lighted if the Wolves remain banged up. Anthony Tolliver hit the waiver wire with a thud after some pretty compelling performances this week, playing just 13 minutes in a forgettable night.

GRIZZLY ADAMS DID HAVE A BEARD

If you’re in an 8- or 9-cat league that rewards games played, then Tony Allen should not be floating around your league’s waiver wire with the Grizzlies staring at two five-game weeks. Allen scored 13 points with five rebounds, two assists, and two steals last night, which is a pretty good baseline expectation for him right now.

Marc Gasol (ankle) was potentially going to miss five games in an early report yesterday, but that was reduced to a questionable listing for the Grizzlies’ next game on Friday. Marreese Speights started for Gasol last night and scored 18 points with seven rebounds, one steal, and two blocks, and is a guy owners will want to keep a close eye on due to the schedule and the slow assimilation of Zach Randolph. Randolph (eight points, five boards, three turnovers) played 22.5 minutes last night and is on the slow-track to getting his wind back. Mike Conley (12 points, five boards, eight assists) sprained his ankle but stayed in the game, and with two full days off in advance of Friday’s game he has a pretty good chance of playing. Dante Cunningham had career-highs of 13 points and 14 rebounds last night, but let’s worry about Speights having value in standard leagues before we go down the ladder to Dante.

DRAGIC’S MAGIC

Goran Dragic gutted out his ankle injury and scored 17 points with four steals and seven assists in 38 minutes. I made a statement on Twitter about Isaiah Thomas being a top-15 PG already, and one of the guys I snuck in ahead of him was Dragic. I snagged Dragic in my big money league and I’m feeling as free as a barn swallow, as Kyle Lowry is not walking through that door (in my opinion). Samuel Dalembert is somebody that I’m not feeling so fresh about, and as I explained somewhere around here, he’s just in a hard spot playing under Kevin McHale. Dally can’t BS one of the better centers of all-time, and for a guy known for his charity work – his work ethic and locker room reputation are awful. It’s clear now that Marcus Camby’s arrival was as much about Dalembert as it was anything else. Dally finished with zero points, seven boards, one steal, and one block in 17 minutes last night, and Camby (four points, four rebounds, zero blocks) wasn’t much better in his 18 minutes. I think Dalembert will improve, but he should only be rostered by teams with real struggles at center. Even then, he should be benched.

Patrick Patterson predictably returned to Earth, as he wasn’t playing a Kings team suffering from too many things to list here. He scored just two points following his 24-point Monday night, highlighting why he’s a deep league option at best right now. Luis Scola continued his recent surge with 22 points, eight boards, and four assists, as did Chandler Parsons, who scored 15 points with nine boards, two threes, and three steals. Both should be in most starting lineups. Courtney Lee continued his poor man’s Kevin Martin act, which coincidentally was a poor man’s version of itself all year long. Back to Lee, he scored 10 points on 4-of-13 shooting with two threes, which should be the baseline expectation going forward and everything else icing on the cake.

ESCHEWS ME

Roddy Beaubois put up another usable line of 14 points, three rebounds, five assists, one steal, and one 3-pointer in 27 minutes off the bench. His value has been a bit spotty recently due to some poor shooting (38.8 percent over the last five games), but if he gets that right, his averages of 10.0 points, 2.8 boards, 4.8 assists, 1.2 steals, and 0.8 threes could be a nice boost during the fantasy playoffs. Vince Carter (seven points, 19 minutes) and Jason Kidd (six points, two assists, two threes, 24 minutes) aren’t exactly burning up the charts, and Delonte West (finger) still isn’t cleared for on-court activities.

Lamar Odom made some noise last night, scoring nine points on 4-of-5 shooting with four rebounds, three assists, one steal, and one block. He was told by Rick Carlisle to eschew the offense and this was the first game in a long time in which observers were impressed by his play. There’s not enough for an add in 12-team formats, but if there was ever a player that could change his fortunes by a light bulb turning on it would be Odom.

BLOW ON THE DICE

The Spurs are a fantasy mess, but you knew that coming into this column. Danny Green, owner of some intriguing lines lately, put up a one-point, five-rebound outing after going hitless on six shot attempts. The Big Three played, and the way I read (read: magically guess) the way things are being handled is that Gregg Popovich is trying to rotate his DNPs so one guy takes a day off at a time. Last night it was Stephen Jackson, who along with Tiago Splitter are two low-end guys that could range from fantasy playoff busts to dark horse producers when the Big Three sit. Tony Parker (24 points, four rebounds, seven assists), Manu Ginobili (13 points, five rebounds, five assists), and Tim Duncan (26 points, 11 rebounds) were their normal productive selves, and owners just need to be diligent about the schedule, the news, and their options.

DeJuan Blair probably needs both Duncan and Splitter to be out for owners to count on him, and even then it’s likely that his minute-count stays down. Kawhi Leonard is my boy, though he has long since been dropped in my big money league, but he has been more consistent than Green if you’re looking for a wing to roll the dice on. Leonard scored 14 points with seven rebounds, one steal, and one three, and has put up early round value over the past two weeks. The skills are there, and the schedule runs 4-4-5 to finish out the year. Give him a look as long as you can live with the risks. The Spurs turn around and play again tonight and have six back-to-back sets in April.

WHAT CAN BROWN DO FOR YOU?

Shannon Brown scored a career-high 32 points last night in a start for Grant Hill (knee), and I hardly moved a muscle. Perhaps if we hear that Hill’s injury is serious, which I doubt with what we know right now, then I’ll be more bullish on Brown. But he has not been able to string together value all year long, and he doesn’t do anything besides score and hit threes. Jared Dudley’s stinker of two points and five boards was a direct corollary to Brown’s big night. Marcin Gortat hit all three of his free throws, which might be as good of news as his 21 points, 14 boards, and two blocks. Steve Nash said his back tightened up, but that he plans on playing tonight. Nash had 16 points, five boards, and eight assists last night, and with the Suns in playoff contention he is set up to finish the year strong. For now.

WHAT ELSE IS NEW

Serge Ibaka blocked six shots with eight points and 12 boards last night. Kendrick Perkins, who single-handedly let Kevin Love score 5,012 points last week, went for zero points, seven rebounds, three turnovers, and two blocks. Both played 25 minutes, and both sit on opposite sides of opposing teams' game plans. On one side, teams pray that Scott Brooks doesn’t play Ibaka 40 minutes per night, and on the other, they list ways to encourage Perk to shoot, ways to isolate and attack him when on offense, and none of the opposition is afraid of his so-called toughness. I watched about 10 hours of Thunder tape over the weekend, too, because I’m not going to sit here and continue to call these guys out whenever the light switch goes on for Brooks and the group. Let’s just say it’s plenty dark enough that I won’t be betting my hard-earned salary on them this summer, though, and given their talent if they don’t win 2-of-5 NBA titles in the coming years it should be considered a massive fail.

OH, IT’S YOU AGAIN

I got plenty of questions about J.J. Hickson last night, who scored 21 points on 9-of-10 shooting with four rebounds, three steals, and a block in 26 minutes off the bench. A few things strike me here, including his lack of rebounds since arriving, the near-perfect shooting line, and the need for coach Kaleb Canales to throw defense out the window for Hickson to be truly successful. A few media members in Portland are calling for just that, but regardless Hickson will be worth watching whether or not his defensive issues and basketball IQ are red flags. He certainly has a path to minutes with Joel Przybilla and Kurt Thomas holding down the fort, otherwise.

Nolan Smith (three points, three assists, 1-of-9 FGs, 26 minutes) started for Raymond Felton (personal), and showed immediately why the Blazers couldn’t pull the plug on the Felton/Jamal Crawford combo earlier in the year. Jonny Flynn was a little bit better with 10 points on 3-of-6 shooting (including a three) with three rebounds and five assists in 25 minutes off the bench, but he was still out of position on defense and the like. With Felton apparently returning on Thursday, both can be ignored unless something changes with Felton. Speaking of Crawford, he was awful and it’s possible all the trade talk shook him up. He hit 1-of-7 shots for two points and not much else in 20 minutes. I’m simply benching him in most cases right now. Wesley Matthews (17 points, four steals, two threes) kept up the good work and Nicolas Batum (13 points, one block, one three) continued to underperform. I’ll give the latter a pass due to the PG situation.

LARRY BIRD BYNUM

Initially, I immediately thought Andrew Bynum (11 points, five boards, 23 minutes) was an idiot for walking into a 3-point shot attempt with the game very much undecided last night. It was a sight to see for sure, as he took the shot like he was just another guard getting too much space from his defender. He made a three on Sunday against the Grizzlies, and after he shot this one he was immediately benched by Mike Brown. Of course, Twitter wasn’t on fire like it was when Kobe was benched on Sunday, but it’s fair to say that Bynum will be a story for all of today on the talk show circuit. After the game, Kobe (30 points, 9-of-24 FGs, game-winning fallaway) supported his center by saying “he was testing the limits of his game.” Bynum has been a bit of a hot mess when it comes to in-between the ears stuff in the past 12 months, but I really don’t see this going anywhere too bad. Yes, the inmates are running the asylum and Bynum sincerely thinks he should be allowed to take threes, as crazy as that is. But Brownie doesn’t have the juice to bench Bynum and my guess is that he is fine on Thursday against the Thunder.

Pau Gasol was left to maul ballerina David Lee, scoring 19 points with 17 rebounds, a steal, and a block, while Matt Barnes ran around freely and scored 18 points with 10 rebounds, three assists, two blocks, and three treys. I think he’ll have a bit of problem with consistency coming off the bench, but Barnes is worth a look in most formats right now. Ramon Sessions (7-5-4 line) is making the whole Lakers offense more efficient.

RUSH, RUSH

Brandon Rush was a drop of mine in my big money league, mostly because he brings stats I don’t need right now, but I sort of had seller’s remorse after dropping him (for a Sunday flier on Byron Mullens before the report about his PF future). Needless to say that remorse is in full-swing after watching him go for 23 points on 9-of-15 shooting (including two threes) with three rebounds and two blocks. I’ll save the ‘why is Dorell Wright struggling' talk for another day (hint: he’s not in GSW’s plans), and Richard Jefferson (six points, two threes) couldn’t get a shot off against Ramon Sessions tonight. Rush is a favored son in Golden State and is playing well right now, and the Warriors have a sweet schedule to finish the year. Unless you’re stacked, pick him up.

Charles Jenkins predictably came back to Earth, scoring 12 points on 4-of-9 shooting with three assists, and the Warriors will do everything short of telling a healthy Nate Robinson to sit in order to make the guy that sent Jeremy Lin packing look good. It’s the Warriors way to care more about what everybody thinks than to care about what’s happening on the court. I get the sense that Robinson's injury isn't too serious, but that the off-court stuff could make the Warriors play it safe. After all, the goal from fan to franchise owner is to lose games and keep combing thin hair sideways over the scalp.

DON’T MESS UP

The Eric Gordon (knee) situation is fascinating to me, and gets ratcheted up a notch when the local media doesn’t really have a clue what’s going on with him. He went from doubtful for the rest of the season to ‘could play at any time’ at the drop of a hat, and make no mistake, he’s playing for a contract when he returns. The New Orleans Times-Picayune article was very detailed unlike nearly every report we’ve read on Gordon this year, which may or may not be the media's fault. From a fantasy perspective I think owners have to strongly consider making the add here.

If we take him at his word, he’s ready to go and produce for the last two weeks of the year. But that doesn’t mean we should be blind, as I’m bracing for the possibility that he’s over-anxious or over-confident (take your pick). And if he does return, I wonder if he suffers a setback trying to reset the market for his services. Right now that market is as soft as butter, and a good audition could change that. And if you believe a Hornets blog, he was dumb enough to turn down four years and $50-plus million from the team at the extension deadline. If that is even remotely true, and he made the call before his knee situation worsened, Gordon could be chasing his losses. With the way stories were clumsily leaked by Gordon's people to the press before the deadline, too, one got the feel that Gordon's ship wasn't too tight.

THE OBITUARY SECTION

I sort of knew the writing was on the wall when the Raptors signed Ben Uzoh to a 10-day contract, just a day after they signed Alan Anderson to a 10-day contract. So after news came across the wire that Jerryd Bayless was expected to miss the rest of the year with an oblique injury I was more or less prepared. Owners can safely make the drop here, but it wouldn’t shock me to see some sort of funny business revealed through the press, etc. Bayless’ injury has been misdiagnosed by the team (originally a hip pointer), the press (Toronto Star writer Doug Smith said he was “over it”), and while I’m sure he’s hurting badly there’s no difference between yesterday’s injury and how the injury felt days before.

As for Bayless, his season will go down as a disappointing one and he’ll carry the injury-prone tag heading into next year. It’s too bad we never got to see him compete with Jose Calderon for the starting job, and one has to believe that the competition was ultimately his downfall. Similarly to Stephen Curry, the player is always going to want to play – especially if a job is on the line. The Raptors appeared to be more interested in justifying the big contract they gave to Calderon than opening up the job to real competition. Calderon’s defense has been predictably awful this season, and Bayless proved plenty capable of providing offense – even if Calderon’s version was a little slicker. Bayless started for an injured Calderon and posted top-10 fantasy value just weeks ago, but based on results those that stashed him (like me) weren’t paid off nearly enough. But fantasy basketball, like poker, is a game of skill and luck. Unlike some other missed calls I’ve made this year, I won’t lose too much sleep over backing Bayless. It’s the Raptors, backing a player that will not be their PG of the future, who should be checking the cabinet for some Nyquil.

DeMar DeRozan (ankle) is expected to play tonight, though the idea that two 10-day guys have been signed isn’t exactly comforting. I’m tentatively expecting him to go, and I’ll be throwing caution to the win and expecting him to play starter’s minutes. Owners will want to watch Gary Forbes and Linas Kleiza closely over the next few days, as they’ll be nice pickups if DeRozan falters at all, and may have value, regardless.

INJURY ODDS AND ENDS

Richard Hamilton has made “encouraging” process in his return from a shoulder injury, just like I’ve made “encouraging” progress on starting P90x.

Anthony Morrow (shoulder) is questionable for tonight, and with Jordan Farmar (groin) out for the year it’s now or never for him. Gerald Green is still the player to own, here, but carries his own unique risks, too.

D.J. Augustin (knee) is questionable tonight and learning of his knee injury was a pretty nice-sized sign that it’s time to take Kemba Walker more seriously as a stash. The only problem is that nobody knows what exactly is going on in Charlotte. While criticizing Paul Silas for the disarray is a bit steep given the personnel situation, there is no real plan for guys like Kemba Walker, Byron Mullens, and Bismack Biyombo. All of these guys should be getting 35-plus minutes per game, rather than grinding Augustin and Corey Maggette into further decay. You can add Reggie Williams to the 'should be playing' list, too, and along with Gerald Henderson you have the correct starting lineup configuration, while you can let Augustin and Maggette gun off the bench. But that’s assuming common sense is being used in Charlotte, of course.

The daily Stephen Curry (ankle) update came and went with little added clarity yesterday, and the way I look at it this will be a battle of wills between the player and team. It’s a different situation than earlier in the year, when the team should have simply stepped in and forced Curry’s hand. Now, Curry has a somewhat compelling reason to get back onto the court – and that is to see if he can sustain action. Unlike earlier in the year, he can be a bit more selective about what he does and how he does it, now that the Warriors are purposely tanking their season. None of this makes the decision to play on it smarter, and if you read our blurb we make the decision sound elementary that he will not play. I’ll just leave at this – if he’s available and you can stomach it, the time to own Curry is the next two days when a decision on his status will be made. If he folds, owners can simply move on.

Until Derrick Rose (groin) can run through non-contact drills at a minimum, owners shouldn’t be treating his return as a foregone conclusion. After watching a promo of Rose shooting set shots on Monday, I dropped C.J. Watson in a weekly league on Monday. After yesterday’s report that he’s only running on a treadmill and that he’s “hesitant” while taking said set shots, I sort of wish I hadn’t done that. At this rate Watson might have a second week of value left in him.

LeBron James’ finger injury is being pointed to by some as a possible reason for his sluggish play over the past week, but owners in any format aren’t going to bite on that and downgrade him. He’s questionable for Thursday’s game but rumors of his and the Heat’s demise should be listened to at one’s own risk.

Trevor Booker has plantar fasciitis in his left foot, and it’s unclear how bad his right knee is, but owners may want to wait until Thursday’s game before dropping him. He’s been playing with the ailment and he’ll be plenty productive if the rest proves to be the difference.

Aaron Bruski has covered hoops for Rotoworld since 2008 and has competed in national fantasy sports competitions for nearly two decades. In 2015 he was named FSWA Basketball Writer of the Year. You can also find his work over at ProBasketballTalk, where he received critical acclaim for his in-depth reporting of the Kings' relocation saga. Hit him on Twitter at Aaronbruski.Email :Aaron Bruski